Housing starts in Cork city down 85%

Housing commencements in the city are down 85% compared to last year’s figures, new data published by the Government has shown.

There were 133 commencements in October: 108 apartments, 24 scheme houses, and one one-off house.

So far this year, 19 one-off units, 305 scheme houses, and 251 apartments have commenced in Cork City.

While October’s commencement is the third highest figure so far this year, after 186 in April and 141 in September, every other month has seen less than 35 commencements, including just one in March, bringing the total for 2025 so far to 575.

The January to October 2025 commencement figures in the city are the lowest since 2020.

In 2024, there were 4,584 commencements in the city, including 4,444 in the first 10 months of the year.

The monthly average amount of commencements this year, 57.5, is an 85% drop from an average of 382 a month last year.

Meanwhile in the county, there were 133 commencements in October and 1,089 so far this year. By the end of October 2024, 3,250 homes had commenced in the county.

Despite this decrease, Cork county has still seen the second highest amount of commencements this year by local authority after Dublin city, as figures are down across Ireland.

Of all units commenced nationally in October 2025, 31% were in the four Dublin local authorities. The most units commenced in Ireland were in Dublin City followed by Fingal and then the two Cork local authorities.